Moto2: Kenny Noyes Talks German GP

Kenny Noyes had another interesting motorcycle racing weekend at the GP of Germany on the Sachsenring, building on the improvements his Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas team had found at Barcelona.

The American rider spent the first practice sessions learning the notoriously tricky Sachsenring racing circuit, a track he had never seen before.

The long flowing sequences of left-hand turns present a significant challenge, as a mistake in one place carries through from corner to corner.

“This is one of the those tracks like Silverstone or Assen that you’ve gotta learn,” Noyes explained. “It might look simple on paper, but it’s a real tricky place.”

The technical nature of the racetrack turned out to help Noyes and the Jack&Jones team. After analyzing the data from practice, the team found an improvement that helped the Promoharris Moto2 bike to hold its line through the turns, a problem that Noyes has had at more flowing tracks.

Rain on Sunday morning prevented the team from testing the fix, but once the race started, Noyes noticed the improvement immediately. “In the rain, I couldn’t feel anything if it was better or worse,” Noyes said. “For the race, the bike felt much better.”

With Noyes’ Jack&Jones Promoharris bike turning much better, the American worked his way forward from 35th on the grid to join battle for 18th place.

Kenny Noyes (21st, fast lap 1’27.263) says: “The race itself was fun, it was a good battle with Canepa and Teshima, kinda like in Assen.” But a mistake in Turn One saw him lose out, and settle for 21st. “On the last lap I made a mistake at the end of the straightaway, and they both got under me.”

“The race was the best part of the weekend for sure. In the practice we really suffered, and the race was really fun. We were further back than we wanted to be, but it was a learning experience.”

“The most important thing is that we kinda confirmed what we learned in Assen and Barcelona. And now for sure for the next race we’ll have a different swingarm, different inserts for the front, so the whole bike should be changed a lot.”

Noyes and the team now head back to Spain and the US, for a four-week break before the next round of the Moto2 World Championship at Brno on August 15th.